[size=150:11bhkhxo]Paedophile, 24, who raped 12-year-old girl is handed a job as a chef at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant ahead of thousands of disadvantaged applicants

Very sad to see he has employed a convicted child rapist as an apprentice! His victim was 12yrs old. Same age as his daughter Poppy!

A convicted paedophile who raped a 12-year-old girl has been taken on as one of Jamie Oliver's apprentice chefs.

David Mason, 24, from Feltham, Middlesex, was sentenced to four years in a young offenders' institution after admitting raping the child as they played computer games together.

He served two years of his sentence before spending another two years doing probationary work and now he is six weeks into the celebrity chef's year-long apprentice programme, working in Jamie Oliver's central London restaurant, Fifteen.

A friend of Mason's are said to be enraged that the convicted paedophile has been boasting on Facebook, where he is said to have posted a picture of himself with Oliver with the caption 'Top of the pile where I belong'.

One told the Sun: 'It's disgusting that a lad who raped a 12-year-old girl can be gifted the kind of opportunity that honest, hard-working youngsters across the country are crying out for.

'I know he served his time but everyone is sickened he's got a golden opportunity ahead of people who haven't committed a horrible crime, and the way he is showing off on Facebook.'

Mason was 19 when he raped the girl, then 12, after sitting next to her as they played computer games.

Isleworth Crown Court heard how the girl rejected him when he said he liked her, telling him she 'did not want to know'.

Mason then 'pushed her down and sexual intercourse took place', the prosecutor said.

Mason initially tried to say that the sex was consensual but admitted the charge.

His lawyer told the court that Mason was young and immature and unaware of the consequence of his actions, but Judge Richard McGregor Johnson said to him: 'The law exists to protect young and vulnerable children and she was both of those things, as you well knew.

'You knew very well that having sex with such a young girl was wrong.'

He was sentenced to four years in a young offenders' institution and put on the sex offenders' register.

Today a spokesman for Jamie Oliver confirmed Mason had been selected as one of the chef's Fifteen apprentices on a year-long programme.

He told MailOnline: 'He was completely honest about his past when he applied for the course and we decided that, as he'd served his sentence, he should be allowed a place on the programme.

'It is not unusual for us to work with people who want to try to turn their lives around. David spent two years in prison and two years doing probationary work with the Prince's Trust, so four years of punishment.

'He applied to us. We took great care deciding whether he was appropriate and decided that he deserved his chance and he is doing extremely well at the moment - he is six weeks into the course and doing very well.'

Set up in 2002, Oliver's Fifteen apprentice programme is designed to 'help young people stay out of trouble and make something of their lives.'

The apprentices, who go through a rigorous and competitive selection programme, attend college one day a week but work mostly in the Fifteen restaurant kitchen, learning the skills needed to be a top chef. They are paid £130 a week, given four weeks' paid holiday, and travel expenses are covered.

Today Andrew Neilson, director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: 'If we expect people who commit crimes to never do it again, then we have to accept that once someone has served their sentence, they deserve a chance to become a safe and productive citizen.

'Jamie Oliver and his Fifteen restaurant should be commended for the opportunities they provide to young people who are trying to change their lives.'